Samsung 13" 4K i5 256GB Galaxy Chromebook

This is a review that I am going to try to keep brief, but I might fail. Here's why: The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook has had some of the most unfair reviews I have ever read about an inanimate object, and I'd like to clear the air of some of those comments. Let's start with the only thing I agree with from so many negative reviews, and that agreement is 'somewhat' at best, and that's the fact that the battery life is not all that great. Some would say it is terrible, I would say that is true if only going by specs alone. But, in real-life usage by a couch potato like myself, is a minor inconvenience. Why? Well, because I do not use my Chromebook in a manner that requires I run on battery power more than 3 or four hours at a time. If after something between 3 and 5 hours, I get low on battery I do what I have always done... I plug it in! I am not being silly, but serious. I plug it in and keep going for a while, then I unplug it and keep going some more. YES, I could not do that in the forest, at the beach, or on a long flight. But my use case does not require that any longer, like it did when I was an executive in the computer business, taking long flights. SO, if your use case or use model allows plugging in now and then, and 3-plus hours will get you what you need and you can plugin for a while at that point, THAT is what real-world usage is like for many many users of this machine. Next, and last, on the agreed-to complaints list of other reviews is that, yes, the machine does heat up sometimes, but no differently than does my $3500 Apple MacBook Pro every now and then. There isn't a lot to say about that, other than it is not constant nor always-so but does occur about as often and gets about as warm, as my Mac laptops have occasionally become. These two main points are in agreement with similar points on other reviews. But many, if not most, of the other points on clearly negative reviews, are less than objective or real-world, in my opinion. For example, I read a review that said the glass screen was so thin if was prone to break, and that the trackpad was just too small, that the hinges were terrible, that the keyboard was terrible, and on and on. All of which is categorically false, and is not a realistic appraisal of the machine, especially when compared with other very high-end laptops, such as some Apple models, some other high-end Chromebooks such as those from Samsung and Google's own offerings. Now... for the sweet sauce, the good points about this amazingly cool little machine... read on. This machine is thin... really thin. So much so, that for the 1st few days I found myself handling it like the newborn baby it was, but soon I reverted to treating it like a laptop computer. All to say this thing is built really well, AND that it is a top-tier piece of precision electronics like a high-end camera or sophisticated medical device. But while it is not unduly delicate, it does deserve a degree of understanding that it is not a 1-inch thick block of ABS plastic, so use and treat it accordingly. Next, the hinges, no complaints from me. Some reviewers claim they are lousy because the lid/screen will oscillate a bit when adjusted. True. And so does every really thin lid machine I have ever owned. Bu tin the real world, we don't do that, do we? We adjust the screen position and carefully, and it stays put. Next, the keyboard, it is every bit as good, and perhaps better than the keys on any Mac portable I've used for the past 5 plus years, in fact, I think it is a little bit better because the key-travel feels a little bit longer, which can make for better feedback and improved speed. No need to comment on the display, it's simply about as good as it can be. Literally. I don't think you can get a better screen on any laptop today. And many of the reviewers panned the machine because of a lack of 4K video material to consume. Someone should tell them it isn't the machine's issue, is it? Sound. The sound is fine, again, consider what you just purchased, it is not a Bose foldback bass design with an array of 6 drivers for sound. It is an amazingly thin laptop, and it sounds just fine. Does it get loud enough? Yes. Does it get really really really loud? No. The hinges are fine, too. My only complaint is that when fully opened into tablet-style, the lid doesn't lock into place, and my copy floated about 1/8th of an inch above the base unit when handheld at an angle. When in tablet configuration and laying flat, as on a desk or table, the lid was flush as it should be. A little annoying at most. All the great features you've read about are absolutely true of this machine. It is simply the best laptop I have ever owned. In terms of the build detail, it meets, and actually, IMPO surpasses, many if not all major laptop manufacturers' latest designs, especially in the Chromebook marketplace, where this machine may be the best, again, depending on your individual feature, functions, and use-case needs. Performance-wise the included i5 10th generation Clearlake U chipset seems to me to outperform or minimally to keep up with my 2015 Google Pixel Chromebook which used an i7 2.6Ghz processor married to 16GB of RAM. This machine I am reviewing has a chip that moves along at 1.6Ghz and throttles up to 3.9 (some spec sheets rate it above 4.x Ghz) and as such I have had zero performance issues even though it has 8 GB of RAM. So performance-wise, I am very pleased. Would I have been happy if I'd spent $1,000 (actually $999) on this machine? Well, my 2015 machined aluminum, best of breed, Google Pixel Chromebook (the second release in that brand/line) cost me over $1,200 when new, and I never looked back. This machine was discounted to $799 a year ago, and now that it is replaced with the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2, this original Galaxy Chromebook can be had for $599 new while inventory supplies are available. At that price, I would replace it in a micro-second if mine was damaged or lost. Those of us who have been Chromium OS and Chromebook pioneers have been rewarded with an ever increase of Chromebook capabilities in both the hardware and the apps and operating system. This machine, the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook (original version) is a real winner in every way, and while battery life is not top-of-class, this reviewer asserts that pretty much everything else is, and for $600, I am very happy with my purchase. I hope this review has been helpful, regardless of what you end up purchasing when shopping for your next Chromebook computer.